Storm Surges as Seen by Coastal and Spaceborne Radars: Case Studies in British Columbia

Short-term sea level fluctuations prompted by abrupt atmospheric changes can be hazardous phenomena for coastal regions. We report on two such recent storm surges that occurred in 2020 on the shores of British Columbia, Canada. A rare concordance of ground-based and spaceborne sensors made it possible to observe these events with a variety of instruments: (1) a coastal oceanographic radar; (2) the synthetic aperture radar onboard satellite Sentinel-1B; and (3) a network of shoreside tide gauges. In the light of these case studies we show how satellite radar data can be used to complement the observation and interpretation of ground-based measurements in the context of “tsunami-like” oscillations.